How to Prepare for a Job Interview

Life & Career

It is an exciting topic. A job interview is usually perceived as a momenta of truth. This view is not entirely wrong. Corporations rely on their observations and impressions from the interview more than anything else when making a decision on whether to work with someone.

It’s not correct to say that it is an entirely objective process. Many average-quality people are viewed positive because they provide a good vibe or a warm, entrusting dialogue. On the other side, people with stronger academic and technical knowledge might be victims of the subjective evaluation of the interviewer. Due to all these reasons, job interviews turn into moments that create more excitement and stress.

Candidates attending the job interview don’t have the possibility of affecting who the interviewer is, what they will value, or what qualities the company is looking for in the candidates.

So what can they affect? What are within the control of the candidates? How to prepare for a job interview in the light of these?

How to Prepare for a Job Interview?

1. Invest in yourself.

Both buying a house and giving 20 thousand dollars to an enterprise idea are investments. Both have risks and certain ways to go back. Consequently, the least risky investment with a full certainty of going back is the investment a person makes in himself, his education, his skills and his background. Thus; invest in yourself before anything else, rely on skills.

2. Go to the job interview with strength.

For this to happen, you need to have discovered your strengths even before the job-search starts and have done all that you can to make these stronger. Additionally, you need to know your weaknesses as well. You need to know them better than everyone else so that you can try to fix or reduce them. Otherwise, you can feel unprepared when facing criticism and judgement against you.

3. Personalize your CV/Personal History.

Unlike the general perception, CV is not a document that can be made once and updated every six months. It’s a living document; it needs to be designed before every interview according to the expectations from the position and the primary qualities that the company seeks.

Beyond its being job-related, a good CV is s document that highlights your strongest aspects and experiences. In other words, it is a small trailer of your professional experience. Just like you wouldn’t watch a million-dollar movie if its trailer doesn’t attract you, the employers and the HR departments will do the same. If you don’t know what to do about this, you can consider doing research on how to prepare a good CV or getting professional help.

4. Prepare for the company you’re interviewing for as if you’re preparing for an important test.

Aim at being knowledgeable about everything about the company you’re interviewing for as if you’ll take an oral exam. Follow the opportunities that will show the big picture and your awareness of the macro sector and don’t refrain from mentioning these within dialogues. Improve your knowledge especially on the competitions, target group, difficulties to the area of work, endorsement magnitude, history, types of employees, and difficulties awaiting in the future of the company.

Don’t stick only to book-information on the company you’re applying to; develop ideas on the risks of failure, how it can be improved, how can new steps be taken and don’t refrain from sharing your strongest ideas in the interview.

5. You appearance, facial expressions, tone of voice are your best means of communication.

Aim at using these in a way that will create the best effect.

Put on a sincere, collaborative, easily communicable and humble attitude.

Pay attention to your clothes. Make it a principle to always be professional and clean.

Know the role. Wrong clothes can create an impression that you don’t know the work, so do your pre-research well. Don’t go to a job interview for a corporate sales role with a t-shirt, and to a position in an advertisement agency with a suit and a tie.

6. Say the right things during the interviews.

Trust in the topic you know and don’t be afraid to tell what you know confidently. Don’t talk on and on about topics you don’t know. If you have to discuss an unfamiliar topic, express your ideas with sentences such as “I’m not an expert on this topic but reasoning with it, I can tell that…”

Be careful about courtesy and professional manners. In this sense, if there are people you can consult to around you, don’t be afraid to ask how the meeting should start, how it should end; and get tips and suggestions.

It’s important to arrange the dosage of your sincerity. Don’t tell everything that comes to your mind; choose your sentences carefully. Remember that the moment you say them verbally, every sentence you make represents your ideas and ways of communication. But with this, don’t shut yourself off with the fear of giving something away. Don’t be afraid to express your ideas on matters that you care about and believe in.

If your meeting isn’t progressing as you wanted it to, direct the conversation to an area you’re comfortable with by asking questions. Put your pre-research and knowledge about the company into use.

7. Develop relationships.

Aim at enjoying being in the same room and in the same conversation with the interviewers. Your positive energy and enjoying your time will affect the person opposite you. If the mood of one person out of two in a room is really positive, it’s difficult for the other one not to be affected by it. Mood is contagious. So, put on a positive attitude.

Get to know the people you are talking to, try to understand their value as human beings.

Make all the effort necessary to understand the job you’ll do and expectations from you in detain and correctly.

9. Be curious, willing, excited.

The only positive aspect that can make a technically unqualified candidate be viewed positively is his desire to learn and improve himself; the excitement and motivation he has for the job.

Aim at creating an “Oh he was so enthusiastic!” impression on the opposite site after your job interview.

10. Remind and keep contact after your interview.

Remember that the interview is the beginning of a dialogue.

Give the message that you were happy to meet the opposite side even if the result of the interview is negative.

Thank right after the interview, don’t be afraid to let them know you enjoyed the conversation, and make sure the opposite side has your contact information.

Follow the process without being too persistent. A hiring process can generally take 1 to 3 months. It wouldn’t create a negative impression to make contact every 2-3 weeks but try not to leave the wrong impression when doing it more often.

Based in London, CommonWisdom helps growing startups with their People & HR & Culture strategies and problems. For early-level startups, it provides strategic direction and mentoring to go from an idea to execution.

It is also the force behind commonwisdom.co with the motto of "increasing wisdom per capita!" This platform provides valuable content for growing startups, on career design, work culture and entrepreneurship.

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